First Day
by pinkpuruu
Summary: The three genin teams embark on their first missions, though in a twist of fate, they all end up somehow crashing into each other along the way. Much showdowns ensue, not to mention rivalries, rogue baby-sitees, and hordes of dragonflies.
1. Assignments

**First Day**

**1: Assignments**

Naruto shook with excitement as Kakashi shuffled around in his pockets. It was the day that he had been waiting for , ever since he had graduated from the academy. Now that he was in a genin team and considered a true ninja, it would be the perfect chance to prove his worth to others. If only Sasuke wasn't on his team…

Kakashi finally found what he was looking for, and pulled out a crumpled scroll from his pocket. He handed it to the three genins, but Naruto grasped it first eagerly. Sasuke merely looked bored.

"What is it?! What is it?!" Naruto shouted as he fumbled with the string of the scroll. "What's our assignment?!"

"'Baby-sit the Sasegawa twins'," Kakashi said matter-of-factly.

"Baby-sitting?!" Naruto sputtered with surprise. The scroll fell from his open fingers. "B-But we're ninjas, not baby-sitters!"

"Shut up, loudmouth idiot," Sasuke snapped, swiping the scroll away from him to examine it more closely.

"Genin-level ninjas only receive D-level assignments," Kakashi explained dully. "You shouldn't be surprised. Easier assignments are given to newcomers like you. You need experience before you get onto the tougher missions. Besides, all the other teams are doing it."

"How's _baby-sitting_ going to help us gain experience?!"

"A ninja isn't supposed to back out on any mission!" Sakura said angrily at Naruto, slapping the back of his head. He gave a loud cry. Inwardly, however, Sakura was the most excited for the mission—a whole day with Sasuke-kun without any risk of death! It was going to be a good day.

"I don't want to baby-sit smelly kids!"

"You're the only smelly one here!"

"Well, Sasegawa-san is expecting you at nine," Kakashi said breaking into their argument. Sakura checked her watch and Naruto leapt backward as her eyes bulged.

"Kakashi-sensei! It's nine-twenty now!" she screamed.

Kakashi gave them a sheepish grin. "Yes, well, I had gotten lost, like I said—"

"LIAR!"

---

"'P-Paint the Eishi house'?" Hinata stammered in surprise. "…We have to p-paint a h-house?"

"What?! NO WAY!" Kiba exclaimed, snatching the scroll from Hinata's hand and rereading it. "Wait… a _house_?"

"That's what it says," Kurenai said, her hands placed firmly on her hips. "Eishi-san filed the report a week ago and no one took up the assignment. I figured this would be the best for you three."

"How's painting a house the _best_ for us?" Kiba said indignantly. "Why couldn't we walk dogs or something?" Akamaru barked in agreement.

"It's something all three of you are equally bad at," Kurenai said bluntly.

Kiba's jaw dropped. "I'm not bad at painting!" he exclaimed. Kurenai shrugged in response. "…Am I?" He turned to Shino for confirmation. Unfortunately, all he received was a cold, expressionless stare from behind Shino's sunglasses.

"I-I don't think I can p-paint very well," Hinata said, her fingers fidgeting.

"I hate paint," Shino said simply. "The fumes aggravate me."

Hinata smiled weakly at him. "I d-don't suppose the b-bugs like it much e-either."

"How can we paint a house in a day?!" Kiba shouted at his sensei. "That's impossible!"

"Eishi-sensei's house isn't very large," Kurenai retorted. "And you have three members. It's more than enough time."

"I refuse," Kiba said, folding his arms stubbornly. "I hate painting."

"You can't refuse," Kurenai said, walking away. "You are ninjas. You do what you are told."

Kiba pouted. Akamaru sulked.

---

"…I'm going home," Shikamaru said, after Asuma had had his say.

"You can't go home," Asuma said gruffly around his patent cigarette. "You're going to weed that goddamn garden and weed it good."

Ino stared mournfully at her hands. "I just did my nails yesterday, too."

"I'm hungry," Chouji moaned. "When is lunch?"

"It's nine-thirty in the morning!" Asuma snapped. Shikamaru let out a sigh.

"Tell me about it," he said. "Why'd you wake me up so early for such a troublesome assignment?"

"It's your duty as genin to complete at least ten assignments before I can nominate you guys to take the Chuunin exam!" Asuma exclaimed, "We have to get going! I bet Kurenai and Kakashi already sent their teams off—"

The three genin shared knowing looks. Asuma glared.

"What?"

"It's the whole 'my team's better than yours' idea, isn't it?" Shikamaru said lazily. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and stared longingly up at the sky. "You three are always at it."

"Yeah, especially you, Asuma-sensei!" Chouji moaned.

"What are you talking about?!" Asuma exclaimed. "This is your first day! You have to do your best!"

"Just because our team sucks, doesn't mean you have to push us so hard," Shikamaru muttered, not quite under his breath.

"W-What? You guys don't _suck_—"

"Let's face it," Ino said, sitting up straighter. "We have _this_ lazy guy," she gestured to Shikamaru, who rolled his eyes, "and this fat-ass," she jerked her head towards Chouji. "Any team with these two losers is bound to suck."

"As if you don't suck just as much, you Sasuke-idiot," Shikamaru snapped.

"Shut the hell up you mother—"

"Stop!" Asuma said, teetering off the edge now. He gave an exasperated sigh. "Okay, if you guys just finish this _one assignment,_ I'll treat you all to yakisoba."

At this, Chouji perked up. Shikamaru let out another sigh.

"Does that mean a yes?"

Shikamaru glared at him. "Stop using Chouji against us, you bastard."

---

**Coming up**...

**2: Problems**  
_Sakura's jaw dropped to the ground. "W-WHAT KIND OF PARENTING IS THIS?!"_

---


	2. Problems

**2: Problems**

With all the lithe running abilities of a horde of elephants, Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto thundered down the road to the Sasegawa residence. They crashed into the house, nearly splintering the wood of the door, and fell into a jumbled heap at the entrance. Sasuke very quickly removed himself from the tangled limbs and stood up, trying to hide his exertion.

The door opened tentatively, and two pairs of eyes peeked out.

"Um, sorry we're late but—" Sakura began.

"THEY'RE HERE!" two voices screamed, as the door was swung open. Two bodies came hurtling out of the door and sprinted down the street, much to the confusion of the genin.

Sakura turned back to the door and attempted to enter before a frazzled woman emerged from the threshold. She smiled weakly at them and asked, "Kakashi's?"

They could only nod.

She let out an enormous sigh of relief. "Thank goodness you're finally here. I've been waiting for a while now. Well, Kiri and Karin went that way," she said, motioning down the street where the two mysterious bodies had gone scurrying down just a few moments ago. "And I'll be going this way." With that, she began to calmly walk in the opposite direction.

Naruto was dumbfounded.

"H-Hey! Wait! What do you mean?!" he asked.

"Oh, they do that every now and then," the woman said, looking over her shoulder. "Just drag them back home by the time I return. Ganbatte, ne."

Before they could question her further, she ran off quickly.

Sakura's jaw dropped to the ground. "W-WHAT KIND OF PARENTING IS THIS?!"

Sasuke looked peeved.

---

"NUH-UH. NO _WAY_."

Kiba, Hinata, and Shino tilted their heads upward to marvel at the impressive building in front of them.

"Is this the right address?!" Kiba exclaimed, staring at the piece of paper.

"I-I think so," Hinata said nervously. "But Kurenai-sensei said it wasn't very large…"

"SHE OBVIOUSLY LIED!" Kiba exclaimed. Hinata winced.

Shino, more composed than Kiba would've liked, put his hands into his pockets and made a low whistle at the three-story house that nearly took up an entire block of the neighborhood. It was monstrous from where they were standing in the street. Just looking at it made Shino want to sigh.

"It _is_ rather impressive," Shino said.

"I _HATE_ PAINTING!"

---

As soon as the woman left her instructions to the three, Shikamaru toppled onto the grass with feigned exhaustion.

"Really," he muttered. "How troublesome."

Ino let out a dry sob. "This entire garden is FILLED with weeds! It's practically a jungle! Does this grandma just sit around all day on her ass?"

"I'm _really_ hungry, guys," Chouji said.

"Okay, here's the plan," Ino said quickly. She crouched amongst the weeds, that were so high they nearly reached her knees, and leaned towards her two teammates. "I'll rake the leaves and you guys can split up the weeding amongst yourselves. I really should just do the easy job myself, but I'm too nice to you guys."

Shikamaru gave her a withering glare. "Weren't you the one who was complaining about how this resembled a jungle?"

Ino let out an indifferent shrug. "I know plants better than you guys do, and all I'm saying is that weeds like this are usually very easy to pull up."

"I think these weeds have some type of thorns in them," Chouji said.

"Okay, so they _may_ have a _weak_ form of protection, but really, weeding is so much easier than raking," she said hastily.

"I think Chouji should rake then, if it's such a difficult job," Shikamaru said. "He _is_ the strongest."

"I insist!" Ino exclaimed.

"I insist harder."

"You're too lazy to insist _harder_!" Ino snapped.

"Good point."

"Then it's decided!" Ino said gleefully. "I'll rake while you guys weed. Let's go!"

"Women are so troublesome," Shikamaru muttered under his breath.

---

**Coming up**...

**3: Sasuke Screws Up**  
_Sasuke let out a low feral growl. "Let's get them," he spat. _

---


	3. Sasuke Screws Up

**3: Sasuke Screws Up**

"Did you get a good luck at them before they ran away?" Sakura asked Sasuke as they sped down the street after the twins.

"No," Sasuke said solemnly. "They were moving too fast."

Naruto gave a short cackle. "Sasuke is an idiot!" he proclaimed. "He got whipped by a couple of kids!"

Sasuke fumed, "If I'm an idiot, than you're an even bigger idiot, since we're on the same team and we're sharing the same mission."

"SO?" Naruto said as he leapt across a wall. "You're the one who has the Sharingan!"

"Shut up, Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed, nettled on Sasuke's behalf. Naruto pouted. "We can't argue right now! Those kids need to be tracked down and brought home! It's really dangerous for little kids to be running around by themse—AH!"

A kunai came hurtling towards her and it took some of her best abilities to jump out of the way. The team screeched to a halt and stared at the weapon embedded in the wall where Sakura had been standing earlier.

"Who would attack us?" Sakura asked, wrenching the kunai out of the brick wall. In response to this, a flood of shurikens came hurtling towards them.

"What's going on?!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping onto the top of the wall out of harm's way. "An enemy? Now?!"

"_Those_ are genin? They're so weak!"

Naruto bristled. "Who's there?!" he cried. But before the voice could respond, Sasuke immediately hurled a kunai at a tree. It gave two timid squeaks, and two bodies fell onto the ground.

"The twins?!" Sakura exclaimed incredulously. "…Your mom lets you play with sharp things?"

"A bunch of brats?" Sasuke muttered, crossing his arms. "Kids like you shouldn't play ninja. It's dangerous."

"You're one to talk, Uchiha!" one of them, a boy, cried. He quickly drew out another shurikan, but Sasuke beat him to it. He raised another kunai with a menacing glare.

"Don't even think about it."

The other Sasegawa twin, a girl, looked rebellious. "If people like you can become genins, then we ought to be allowed to take the genin test too!" she said.

"What was that?!" Naruto shouted. "A genin is required to do a lot of tough jobs! Little kids like you shouldn't be allowed—" He was silenced by the little boy impudently kicking both of Naruto's shins.

"OUCH!" Naruto cried. "Why you—!"

"RUN, KIRI!" the boy shouted. They both dashed away.

"Do they really think it'd be so easy to escape?" Sasuke said, looking a little bored. He disappeared from his position next to Naruto and Sakura and appeared in front of the twins. From behind, Sakura clapped her hands eagerly as Naruto fumed.

"You two are coming with us," Sasuke said, grabbing both of their collars roughly. "We're going to play a nice game of checkers when we get back—"

POOF

Sasuke stared.

Sakura's eyes bulged.

Naruto struggled to restrain his laughter.

Sasuke dropped the two straw dolls, faces drawn in with charcoal and thread, with disgust. From the distance, Sakura could depict the fire raging in his eyes.

"Sasuke-kun?" she called tentatively. "The replacement jutsu?"

Sasuke let out a low feral growl. "Let's get them," he spat.

---

**Coming up**...

**4: Rivalry**  
_"If that's the case," Shino said suddenly, "The first one to finish painting two walls will get a date with Hinata."_

---


	4. Rivalry

**4: Rivalry**

"I _hate_ painting!" Kiba moaned, as he slowly rolled the paint onto a wall of the house.

"I think we figured that out the first time you told us," Shino said to him as he painted the wall adjacent to Kiba. "There's no need to repeat it."

"But I just _despise_ it!" Kiba exclaimed. Akamaru barked in agreement. "The smell of paint is the worst!"

"M-Maybe you should take a b-break?" Hinata suggested. She looked down at the both of them from her position at the side of the second story of the house, standing precariously on a wooden rung of a ladder. "Breathing p-paint fumes isn't very p-pleasant, is it?"

"He's taken five breaks already," Shino said. "I've already finished my half of this wall while he has yet to move a step from his spot thirty minutes ago."

"A-ah, I s-suppose," she said, not looking for a conflict.

Kiba snarled at his teammate. "What's it to you, Shino?! I could paint faster than you, just watch! Akamaru!"

Akamaru scampered towards Kiba, barking. Kiba smirked. "Beast Effect Ninpou!"

Akamaru barked in response.

"_Beast Human Bushin_!"

In a great puff of smoke, Akamaru transformed into another Kiba. Both Kibas gave identical smirks and stuck their tongue out at Shino. Shino merely stared.

"Okay Akamaru! Let's go!"

Hinata smiled slightly as she watched the Kibas paint furiously on their wall, albeit messily. Though she had to admit, it was a rather clever idea. But then she noted that Shino didn't look too pleased. But then again, he always looked like that.

"Ganbatte, Kiba-kun," Hinata said meekly.

"If that's the case," Shino said suddenly, putting down his roller and walking back. "You shouldn't mind if I do this."

An ominous buzzing was heard throughout the entire yard. Both Kibas turned to detect where that noise was coming from. It grew louder, and Hinata trembled slightly as she wondered what could make that kind of sound.

Finally, after a few excruciating seconds, the source of the buzzing revealed itself. Hinata nearly dropped her roller.

An immense horde of gigantic dragonflies flapped lazily over to Shino's side. He seemed unaffected by their terrifying numbers and size and gave a terse nod of his head. They buzzed towards the paint and, to both Hinata and Kiba's amazement, flew into the paint and obediently began to press themselves onto the house, leaving great flowery patterns on the wall with their bodies.

"It may take awhile for _one_ to paint a side," Shino said, "but with a pack this size, I'm sure we can finish painting long before you and your dog can." As he said this, his expression didn't change, despite having revealed his impressive trump card and wiping Kiba's confident grin from his face.

Even from Hinata's point of view, she could see Kiba's form trembling with anger. "A-ano," she called hesitantly, desperate for some reconciliation. "Maybe you g-guys should just c-c-cool down for a few minutes…"

"Stay out of this, Hinata," Shino said coldly.

"A-ah…"

"Hey!" Kiba exclaimed. "Don't talk to her like that!"

"What's it to you?" Shino replied loftily. Kiba flushed.

"Y-You shouldn't talk to girls like that, bug freak!" Kiba exclaimed. "Hinata never did anything!"

Shino was silent for a moment. Kiba continued to glare fiercely at his teammate, much to Hinata's distress.

"Please s-stop, you two—"

"If that's the case," Shino said suddenly, "The first one to finish painting two walls will get a date with Hinata."

"WHAT?!" Kiba cried, even more flushed. "YOU CAN'T JUST SUDDENLY DECIDE THAT!"

"E-eh?" Hinata stammered, blushing so hard that her cheeks stung. "S-Shino-kun, w-what—"

"If you don't agree, you lose," Shino said. He looked up to Hinata. "I hope you don't mind."

"A-ah…"

"NO WAY!" Kiba shouted, trying to restrain himself from slugging Shino good and hard for fear of getting attacked by the gigantic dragonfly. "I'M NOT FORFEITING!"

"Then you should get to painting, shouldn't you?"

Kiba tackled his wall with his roller with much alacrity as he harshly ordered Akamaru to paint the other wall. Hinata let out an exasperated sigh as she noted the small upturned ends of Shino's lips. Their first mission wasn't getting off to a very good start…

---

**Coming up**...

**5: Super-weeds**  
_"No, they're weeds alright," Ino said. "They just seem to be a hybrid breed of a billion different weeds to make it some sort of super-weed."_

---


	5. Super Weeds

**5: Super-weeds**

Shikamaru fell back onto the grass with an overly exaggerated sigh. He looked at his hands and grimaced at how raw and pink they were. They had been working for nearly an hour, and Shikamaru was close to his limit.

"Geez, this is really—" he began.

"Don't you dare say it," Ino snapped. She struggled to remove the teeth of the rake from the tangled mess of weeds. She also seemed to be developing a rather serious twitch in her right eye.

"I was going to say 'tedious'," Shikamaru said stubbornly.

"I think we all know what you were going to say, Shikamaru," Chouji said. Although the stronger of the two, he seemed to be getting wearied as well. He hadn't gone this long without eating for a while, after all.

"Geez," Shikamaru said. "I can't stand doing work like this. Why couldn't we get something easy? Like baby-sitting or something."

"Yeah, we could eat when we're baby-sitting," Chouji agreed, looking mournful. "Weeding requires too much energy."

"Hey, raking isn't the most fun of jobs either!" Ino exclaimed, wrenching the rake free from the ground. She tumbled backward onto a large pile of dead leaves, scattering them around the yard again. "Oh great," she said, looking frustrated. "This is the eleventh time this has happened!"

"Yeah, thanks Ino," Shikamaru said, smirking now. "Raking _was_ the hardest job."

"Shut up, you lazy bum," Ino retorted, getting red in the face. "Weeding doesn't look too easy either."

"Yeah, I don't know what this grandma's thinking," Chouji said, looking around him in wonder. Only a quarter of the entire yard had been properly weeded. "I wonder if what we're weeding are _really_ weeds."

Shikamaru moaned in agony. "Don't tell me we've been weeding something that _wasn't_ weeds."

"No, they're weeds alright," Ino said. "They just seem to be a hybrid breed of a billion different weeds to make it some sort of super-weed."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "Super-weed?"

Ino's face grew solemn. "This type of weed," she began, motioning to the small pile of uprooted plants, "Seems to have gained all the strong attributes of weeds and none of the weak. Thorns, deep roots, and tough stems… weeds don't usually have all of those."

Chouji looked worried. "But why haven't we been hurt yet?"

"I don't know, perhaps luck. Right now, all we know for sure is to careful and one thing you have to be absolutely sure of doing is to—AAAAARGH!!"

Ino tumbled over backwards, spilling the remaining leaves haphazardly onto the ground. Dark forms raced away from her, laughing shrilly.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Ino exclaimed from the ground, preparing herself to throw a large tantrum.

"It looked like a pair of overly excited kids, obviously playing ninja, evading a trio of angry genin," Shikamaru said casually, peering into the distance to see the blurred forms disappear down the street. Ino and Chouji both stared.

"…Or a pack of rabid dogs," Shikamaru suggested, shrugging. He reached over to help Ino up, but they were suddenly tackled to the ground by a bright orange blur that screamed, "YOU LITTLE BRATS!" as it brought the two to the ground. Ino let out a surprised yelp as she and Shikamaru toppled onto the floor in a mass of tangled arms and legs.

Chaos ensued. Ino jumped back onto her feet and a kunai was instantly in her hands. Shikamaru's Shadow Bind shot out to the mysterious attacker allowing Chouji to tackle the person to the ground. But as Chouji attempted this, a barrage of shurikens hurtled towards the three. They only narrowly evaded them, but this seemed to ignite a barrage of punches and kicks amongst themselves. Elbows elbowed and knees kneed until a deafening whistle tore through the air. The crowd froze.

"What are you doing, Ino-pig!?"

Ino's head turned quickly to the owner of the voice. Her eyes narrowed at her rival. "I should've known it was you," she said viciously.

---

**Coming up**...

**6: The Chase Continues**  
_"THEY WENT THIS WAY!" Naruto exclaimed. "MOVE YOUR ASS, SASUKE!"_

---


	6. The Chase Continues

**6: The Chase Continues**

Naruto let out a loud cry of frustration after having wandered around town at least five times with fruitless results.

"SASUKE!" he exclaimed, eager to toss the blame to someone other than him. "How could you let them get away?!"

Sasuke shot him an extremely dark glare. "_I_ let them get away?!"

"WHO was the one who feel for the replication technique!?"

"I wasn't the one who let an eight-year-old kick me."

"I did that on purpose! Everyone here _knows_ that you fell for a trick played by a couple of kids!"

"Shut up, Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed, irritated that Naruto could so easily pick on Sasuke. Naruto pouted. "We have to find those kids before they do something dangerous! If _you_ were eight and were being chased around by ninja, where would you hide?"

"I'd kick their asses!" Naruto exclaimed.

"I wouldn't hide," Sasuke replied stubbornly.

"Okay, so if _I_ were eight and being chased by ninja, where would I hide?" Sakura asked. She was silent for a few minutes.

"Hey! I think I saw them!" Naruto exclaimed suddenly, pointing in the opposite direction.

"What?!" Sakura cried, looking behind her. "Where?!"

"I think they went this way!"

Sasuke glowered. "What makes you so sure?"

"Just trust me!" Naruto said impatiently. "I _swear_ I saw something head over this way."

"I think we should split up," Sasuke said. "So that certain people don't drag me down."

Sakura's arm shot into the air. "I'm going with Sasuke!" she said eagerly.

"I said we should split up so that we don't slow each other down," Sasuke said, not looking at her. Sakura looked downcast.

"Sakura-chan can come with me!" Naruto offered eagerly.

Sakura's eye twitched, "Hell no," she said through clenched teeth.

"I'm going to go this way," Sasuke said, suddenly running off in the opposite direction that Naruto had pointed at earlier. He left before they could make any protest.

"Ne, ne, Sakura-chan!" Naruto said. "Let's go this way!"

_"I'm_ following Sasuke-kun," she said, flipping her hair and walking quickly away from Naruto, who sulked.

"Screw that bastard, Sasuke!" Naruto said vehemently, clenching his fists. "I'll catch those goddamn kids first! And then he'll come crying to me like the loser he is and Sakura-chan will start to think I'm cool! That's right!" He chortled as he ran off into the direction he pointed at earlier, growing excited by his own delusions.

After a few minutes of running through the streets at random, not exactly knowing where he was going, he ended up in what appeared to be a playground. Naruto was thunderstruck; in his entire childhood, he had never seemed to make his way here. Although he had heard rumors of such a playground, he didn't really know for sure… because everyone hated him. In any case, Naruto was struck by its amazing splendor and grandness of the place. He felt himself drawn to the swing set that jangled merrily in the wind, enticing him to no end.

Maybe I could just swing for a little while, Naruto thought wistfully. After all, with a childhood like his, he never really had time to sit down and just swing. So he eagerly walked towards the swing, with all the intent of swinging peacefully without bothering anyone, when a dozen kunais lodged themselves in the ground in front of his feet. Naruto went instantly on alert.

"What—"

"Damnit, Kiri, they found us!"

Naruto froze. Then his face broke into a gleeful smile. "That's right! Did you think you could get away?! I've been tracking you for blocks!"

The twins appeared in front of him with a cloud of smoke. The boy wore a defiant expression on his face as his sister hid unsuccessfully behind him. "I guess there's no choice," the boy said, shrugging. "We'll just have to fight."

Naruto gaped at him. "Fight with a little kid?!"

The boy glared at him. "I can kick your ass any day! Or are you chicken?!" He made a mocking gesture with his hands and Naruto was taken aback by his impudence. But he still was not willing to give in.

"Karin-onii-chan…" the girl said. "Maybe we should go home…"

"Shut up, Kiri!" the boy said. "I'm gonna fight this bastard and beat him! Just you watch!"

Naruto was stunned into silence. "I don't think it's very ethical for me to beat up a little kid… OUCH, WHAT THE?!" He clutched his shin with pain. "Why you—!"

The boy clutched a kunai defiantly. "Just you watch, Kiri," he said.

Naruto could tell from the boy's expression that he would be unwilling to back down. He let out sigh, and reluctantly pulled out a kunai of his own. "Well, I warned you…" He stood into position. "Let's go, then."

The boy glared. Naruto stared back. The girl merely trembled from behind him. Sweat beaded down the little boy's forehead from the immense pressure.

"Well?"

The boy took a bold step forward, and Naruto backed slowly. Then, without warning, the boy grabbed the girl's hand and sprinted off into the opposite direction, yelling, "RUN, KIRI!"

Naruto was dumbfounded for a few moments. Then,

"HEY, YOU LITTLE _BRATS_! THAT'S CHEATING! YOU CAN'T DO THAT, GET BACK HERE!"

---

"Ne, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said brightly. "Maybe we should just go and wait by the house. They turn up eventually, once it gets dark. In the meantime, we could… well…"

Sasuke shot her a venomous glare. "What are you suggesting," he said coldly. "Do you honestly think I'm going to leave Naruto to screw up this mission?" He then turned and walked faster, hoping she'd finally stop following him. But she would not be deterred so easily.

"That's right!" she said. "Then we should find them first and bring them home so that we can finally have some time to ourselves."

Sasuke chose to ignore her.

"Ne Sasuke-kun—KYAAH!!"

Sasuke whirled around to see Sakura on the ground with a breathless Naruto. It seemed that Naruto had tackled Sakura down to the ground for no apparent reason.

"NARUTO!" she screamed. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"THEY WENT THIS WAY!" Naruto exclaimed, pulling Sakura back to her feet and dragging her off around a corner. "MOVE YOUR ASS, SASUKE!"

Sasuke glowered as he followed. He didn't like being out of the limelight.

---

**Coming up**...

**7: Warning—Painters At Work**  
_"I don't think you're motivated enough. Maybe we should raise the stacks of our bet?"_

---


	7. Warning: Painters At Work

**7: Warning—Painters At Work**

Kiba panted from exertion. _Damn_! he thought. _I used up too much chakra._ After thirty minutes, Kiba began to realize how stupid his plan was. Akamaru had long since given up—said dog ended up sleeping in the shade for the rest of the time as Kiba continued to desperately finish a wall of the towering house.

Shino, however, didn't seem to be fazed at all, despite having called in a horde of incredibly large bugs. In fact, he barely even moved from his spot; he merely watched the bugs as they worked on painting the walls with much diligence and obedience.

True, none of the walls looked as nicely painted as Hinata's, but no one cared to mention that.

As for the prize of the bet, she had doggedly continued to paint the top of the house, despite her precarious position near the top of the house. She was nearly done too, although she did not have special clones or gigantic insects to help her with the job. She was a bit worried about the little competition that Shino and Kiba had going on, but she figured that it was just a "boy thing" and that really, they were only kidding about that whole date thing.

But from the looks of things, Hinata grew more and more concerned. For the past few minutes, after Akamaru had long given up, Kiba had been shooting Shino baleful glares that Hinata swore could've burned holes right through Shino's sunglasses. She had heard numerous throaty growls coming from his directions, and she could tell that that was not a good sign.

Although Hinata was a shy girl and uneasy about jumping into any sort of confrontation, she wasn't someone who'd just let something blow up in front of her. She also did not want her team to fall apart in the first mission.

"A-ano…" she stammered, trying to climb down the tall ladder, "Maybe we should take a break?"

This, evidently, was not the right thing to say.

"NO WAY IN HELL!" Kiba said, immediately jumping back to work, splaying the paint across the wall. "If I stop now, I'll lose to that bastard!"

"Besides," Shino said loudly from his side of the house so that Kiba could hear him. "My bugs tell me that Kiba already has taken one."

"I HEARD THAT YOU SON OF A—"

"M-Maybe we could go g-get some ice cream t-together?" she suggested, speaking as loudly as she could so that both Kiba and Shino could hear her. "I-I'll pay for i-it …"

But neither of them was paying any attention. Evidently, Kiba had immediately rushed over to Shino's side to personally shout in his face.

"I never really liked you, you bug-freak!" Kiba exclaimed, waving his paintbrush erratically so that flecks of paint landed everywhere. "You and your high-and-mighty attitude, thinking you're better than everyone! What happened, did your entire clan die, or something?! Is that why you're such an arrogant bastard?! Why don't you ever say anything?!"

"I suppose that means you're not having too much fun with this bet?" Shino said. "Is it because you're losing?"

"I'M NOT LOSING!"

"I don't think you're motivated enough. Maybe we should raise the stacks of our bet?"

Hinata squeaked.

"FINE!" Kiba declared, his face flushed from the shouting. "What do you propose?!"

Whatever Shino had in mind, however, was drowned out by Hinata's surprised yell. Their heads swung to the noise and both were shocked to see Hinata's ladder titter dangerously on one leg and Hinata hanging on for dear life. They rushed over to the rescue, grabbing onto the sides of the ladder from the bottom and steadying it.

"Hinata!" Kiba called. "Are you okay?! What happened?!"

She seemed more shaken than usual from the death-defying stunt. "S-Somebody, or m-maybe two people, r-ran down the street and k-knocked the ladder."

Although Shino's expression was unreadable, there was definite concern behind his words. "Come down from there. My dragonflies will paint on the top. It's too dangerous up there."

"A-ah," she said, "H-hai."

She tentatively reached out for the paint bucket and painting utensils when she heard an ominous sound in the distance.

"YOU BRAAAAAATS! I'LL KICK YOUR TINY NINJA-WANNABE ASSES!"

The orange storm bowled over Shino and Kiba, who landed onto the hard ground without much grace, and severely shaking the ladder further. Kiba let out a wild howl, but the person did not seemed to hear and continued racing down the street, yelling at the top of his lungs.

"Hinata!" Kiba cried out, panicked. Hinata slipped from the ladder, which continued to tip over, and she began to yell out in surprise. Shino immediately jumped to his feet and the horde of dragonflies glided over to rush to Hinata's aid. Kiba watched with worry as they flew her gently towards the ground, preventing injury.

"Are you okay?!" Kiba exclaimed, rushing over to her as she came back down to the ground. He grabbed her by the shoulders, ignoring her trembles, and looked her over quickly. "Any bruises? Cuts? It doesn't smell like you're bleeding, but how's your head?!"

"A-ano…" Hinata stammered. "I'm f-fine, but—"

"What?!" Kiba cried, intense concern reflected in his eyes.

"I d-don't think S-Sasuke-kun looks too happy…"

Both Kiba and Shino turned to see where Hinata was looking. Kiba facefaulted.

Sasuke was standing next to where the ladder had crumpled onto the ground, completely shock still. Intense waves of anger emanated strongly off of him. Kiba immediately felt the temperature increase by at least fifty degrees.

"H-Hey… Sasuke," Kiba said as casually as he could. "How are… things?"

Immediately, Sasuke kicked the empty paint bucket towards Kiba, spraying paint everywhere. "I'm covered in paint, you idiots!" he spat. He pulled off his shirt, covered in the bright pink paint that they had been painting with, and threw it on the ground. Then he glared at the entire team, who simultaneously shuddered.

"One of you. Fight me. Now," he demanded, pulling out his shuriken and looking at whom to throw it at. Although covered head to toe in bright pink paint, Sasuke couldn't have looked any less terrifying. "I need to do some serious ass-kicking."

Hinata began to nervously push her fingers together, "A-Ano, S-Sasuke-kun… Sorry, it was really an a-accident. P-please don't b-beat us u-up."

Sasuke's shoulders relaxed slightly at this. But his eyes still held the fiery resilience from before. After Kiba and Hinata weltered under his gaze long enough, Shino patently looming in the background not saying anything, Sasuke heaved a great sigh.

"You guys aren't worth it," he muttered. "So which way did Naruto go?"

Hinata lit up slightly. "N-Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah, that idiot."

"Wait a second," Kiba said. "That DUMBASS who knocked Hinata down from the ladder was NARUTO?!" Even Shino seemed to straighten a bit in order to hear correctly.

Sasuke gave them a Look that said "well-why-else-would-I-even-be-here-you-idiots?" Kiba grew a Look of his own that said, "I'm-gonna-kill-that-little-midget-of-a-dumbass-thatis-before-I'm-done-siccing-Akamaru-on-him". Shino merely gave them his usual "everyone-is-stupid-except-me" Look. Hinata only trembled.

"I suppose he went that way, then?" Sasuke said, pointing. Kiba nodded fiercely.

"We're going with you," he growled. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"You hold, I punch?" Sasuke said calmly.

"Why don't we all just punch him?" Kiba said.

Sasuke shrugged. "As long as we get to beat him up."

---

**Coming up**...

**8: Naruto Gets Beat Up. Twice.**  
_"What the hell?!" he cried, looking behind him. "What do YOU guys want?!"_

---


	8. Naruto Gets Beat Up Twice

**8: Naruto Gets Beat Up. Twice.**

"What are you doing, Ino-pig?!" Sakura exclaimed. Everyone froze.

"You!" Ino exclaimed, letting go of whoever she had been fighting with. "What are you doing here?!"

"Why are you attacking my teammate?!" Sakura exclaimed. She walked over to where Chouji and Shikamaru had been attacking Naruto, and dragged the poor, heavily bruised boy away from him. "We're in the middle of a mission—stop trying to sabotage us, Ino-pig!"

Ino flared. "WE'RE on a mission, TOO," she blazed. "But THIS IDIOT destroyed an entire day's work!"

"Didn't look like you were doing much," Naruto muttered past his bleeding lip.

"Ah man," Chouji whined, nursing his injured head. "Now we'll have to start from the beginning."

"Hell no!" Ino shouted. "THEY'RE going to weed the garden FOR us. _And_ they're going to rake the leaves!"

Sakura stamped her foot angrily. "We don't have time to weed or rake! We have to find those kids! Naruto, where'd they go?!"

But Ino wasn't about to be ignored. She cursed under her breath as she pulled out a mass of shuriken to toss at her rival when she felt her hand grabbed and pulled back.

"Bastard, what—"

"Ah!" Sakura cried in glee, "Sasuke-kun! You finally caught up!"

Sasuke glared down at Ino, who blushed at the contact. "Aah… oi… Sasuke-k-kun…"

"Geez," Sasuke grumbled, shaking the shuriken out of her hands. "You guys are so irritating." He looked down at Naruto, noted the numerous bruises and cuts that decorated his body and snorted. "Looks like you've already been taken out. By a bunch of bums, no less."

Naruto glared.

"Thanks for saving me, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called. "…But why aren't you wearing a shirt?"

"Shut up," Sasuke said irritably, hoping no one saw the specks of pink in his hair. "Weren't we supposed to be tracking down those annoying brats?"

"Aahh… e-eto…"

"Actually," Shikamaru said, cutting in, "We were just discussing how exactly Naruto would repay us for ruining a complete day's work."

"…What did he do now," Sasuke said, shooting a nasty glare to Naruto, who tried to glare back despite the nasty bruise over his right eye.

"We don't have time for this!" Sakura cried. "I'm going after those two—Naruto can work out all the details."

With that, she sprinted away, much to Ino's frustration. Sasuke looked back at Chouji and Shikamaru and gave them an appraising look.

"You'd better go too," Shikamaru said wearily. "I don't want my ass kicked."

"Good decision," said Sasuke, and he took off as well.

"SHIKAMARU!" Ino cried. "What was that?!"

Chouji began to nod in agreement with Shikamaru. "He would've totally owned us."

Ino slapped her forehead. "Our team sucks."

As this exchange was going on, Naruto tried to surreptitiously drag his injured body after his teammates. However, Ino wasn't so easy on him.

"You're raking," she snarled, shoving the rake into his face.

"And weeding," Chouji added. "We're going to go eat some yakisoba."

"NO WE'RE NOT!" Ino cried. "We're going AFTER Sakura to make sure she doesn't make any moves on Sasuke!"

"What, worried that she'd succeed?" Shikamaru asked snidely. Ino promptly slapped him on the head.

"We're going and that's final," she said. "Stop crying, Chouji. We'll eat later with Asuma-sensei, because he said he'd treat us."

And then they left, leaving a puzzled Naruto holding a rake. He then began to dolefully rake, cursing his entire team, especially Sasuke. He did this after a few minutes, until realization struck him.

"What the hell am I doing?!" he cried. He threw down the rake and began to run after everyone else when suddenly, he felt his collar grabbed. He was jerked backwards and onto the floor.

"What the hell?!" he cried, looking behind him. "What do YOU guys want?!"

Kiba and Shino towered ominously over Naruto. Akamaru let out a particularly nasty growl on the top of Kiba's head.

"Well, _Na-ru-to_," Kiba said, pounding his fist into his other hand to accentuate every syllable. "We came to return something to you. Hinata! The bucket!"

"A-a-ano—"

"I brought it," Shino said, lifting up a large bucket. Drops of bright pink fluid dribbled down the edges in a terrifying manner. Although Naruto could not see Shino's mouth from behind his large collar, he was certain that he was wearing an extremely large (and evil) grin.

"Shino, hold him down."

Naruto let out a piteous wail.

---

**Coming up**...

**9: Clones**  
_"Shut up," Sasuke said, glaring. "I've had enough of these games. _

---


	9. Clones

**9: Clones**

Sasuke cursed. "I don't know where they went," he said to Sakura. She looked equally worried.

"It's getting dark too… what should we do?"

"SAKURA!"

Sasuke couldn't help but roll his eyes as they both turned around to face an angry Team 10. All of them looked worn out and tired, but Ino looked as if she were about to spout fire. Shikamaru and Chouji looked bored and out of place.

"Get away from Sasuke, you ugly forehead girl!" Ino cried.

"Didn't I tell you that we're on a mission?" Sakura said exasperatedly. "I don't have time to fight with you. Just accept that Sasuke's with _me_ and move on."

Sasuke rolled his eyes again. "Listen," he said to Sakura, very cross. "I'm going to go on ahead. Keep her off my back."

Sakura's eyes shone. "Of course, Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke quickly rushed away, glad that his plan to get rid of the two worked.

Sakura smiled triumphantly to Ino. "You might as well give up now, Ino-pig," she said. "You don't stand a chance with him."

"That's it!" Ino cried. "I challenge you to a fight, right here, right now!"

"Oh great," Shikamaru groaned. "A chick fight."

"I'm hungry," Chouji wailed. "Really, guys, let's just go eat something."

Sakura smirked. "Real intimidating, Ino-pig."

"Shut up!" Ino cried. "I'm sick of you always insulting us!" She lunged at Sakura, kunai in hand. "I'll make it so you never do so again!"

"How troublesome," Shikamaru muttered.

---

Sasuke stopped suddenly. He turned his head cautiously to eye his surroundings. Then he smirked.

"I know you're here," he said, performing rapid hand seals. "Get yourselves out here now and I won't beat you. Too much."

His only response was silence. His hands froze in mid-seal and he looked around once more. "Come out, come out—Whoa!"

He had tripped into a large hole, covered discreetly, in the middle of the road.

"What the—"

Shrill laughter broke into the air. Sasuke gave a curse.

"You fell for it!" The boy's face appeared over the hole smirking triumphantly at Sasuke. "Hey, you're the Uchiha guy. Aren't you supposed to be strong?" Sasuke could hear the little girl giggle as well.

"I expected the loud-mouthed nii-chan to fall in here, not you," the boy said earnestly. "But oh well! You guys better catch up, because we're winning by a long run!"

"Oh?" Sasuke said. His lips formed a small smirk. "Look behind you."

"Huh?" the boy turned and let out a shriek. Sasuke was holding a struggling Kiri in his grasp while another Sasuke immediately caught hold of the other boy. The clone in the hole disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"That's cheating!" the boy cried, kicking the clone furiously. "Not fair!"

"Shut up," Sasuke said, glaring. "I've had enough of these games. We're going home, right after we find Sakura and Naruto."

"Aw maaaan"

---

Sakura and Ino panted with exertion. Both were at their limit—their chakra had almost completely dissipated.

"Ino-pig," Sakura panted. "Give it up already. Accept fate and move on with your life. Whatever's left of it."

"I'll never give up!" Ino said brainlessly. "Sasuke's mine!"

"No, he's mine!"

"Mine!"

"MINE!"

"Is this how girls usually fight?" Chouji asked, puzzled.

"Girls are stupid," Shikamaru said firmly.

"Oi. Sakura."

Everyone turned to see two Sasukes come down the road, each carrying a disgruntled child.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said gleefully. "You've caught them!"

"Take this one," one of the Sasukes said gruffly, thrusting Karin into her arms. "He kicked me in the crotch too many times."

Sakura willingly took the boy, who immediately calmed down once in Sakura's arm. "Damn you," he muttered.

"Aww," Sakura said. "He's so much more cuter when he's not throwing sharp objects." The boy flushed.

"Stop flirting with my brother!" the little girl cried, thrashing in the other Sasuke's arms. "You harlot!"

"What?!" Sakura cried as all of the members of Team 10 snickered. "He's way too young for me!"

"I think we all know what kind of kinky tastes you have, Sakura," Shikamaru said, chuckling. Sakura shot him a deadly look.

"Sakura," Sasuke said wearily. "Let's just drop these kids home and go. They're mom's about to come home soon anyway."

"Okay!" Sakura said. She followed Sasuke towards the Sasegawa residence, not forgetting to stick her tongue out derisively at Ino, who glared.

---

"Where's Naruto?" Sakura wondered aloud once they finally reached the kids' home. "He's been gone for a really long time…"

"That idiot probably landed himself into trouble again," Sasuke said, depositing Kiri onto the front porch of the house. Sakura followed suit.

"That was really fun, right Kiri?" Karin said happily. Sakura gave him a tired look. "We should suggest these people next time too!"

"No," Sasuke said, shoving the children into the house. "Go home. Your mom's probably waiting for you."

Sasuke didn't notice the little boy give a small (and evil) smile.

"I don't think we want to go home just yet," the boy said, turning to grin even more widely at Sasuke.

"What—"

The two children disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Both Sasuke and Sakura froze in shock. The space where the kids had been standing was now completely bare. Sasuke swore he heard their scathing laughter ringing in his ears. They remained shock-still for a good five minutes before Sasuke took in a deep breath.

"FUCK."

---

"Okay, okay," Kakashi said, waving away all the protests of Sasuke and Sakura. They had just given their report to Kakashi after an entire night of running throughout town to finally relocate the elusive twins. "I get how they tricked Sasuke. I get how Naruto got beat up. I get the pink paint. I _get_ how Sakura got into a fight with Ino. I also get why you guys used up all your chakra to find these two eight-year-olds, which took all of last night. What I don't get, however," he said, pausing to take a look at Sasuke, who glared in return. "Is why Sasuke doesn't have his shirt."

Everyone turned to stare at Sasuke's bare chest. He flushed, and glared at them, daring them to say anything.

"Hey," Naruto said, struggling to form the words through his loose teeth. "What exactly were you and Sakura-chan doing while I was gone, Sasuke?!"

---

**Coming up**...

**10: Team**  
_"Hey, don't pick on Hinata," Kiba said. "It's not her fault."_

---


	10. Team

**10: Team**

Kiba wiped his hands cleaned as he smiled contently. "Good job, Akamaru. You too, Shino," he said, turning to the boy. Shino gave a terse nod.

"What should we do with his body?" Shino said, raising an eyebrow.

"Just leave him," Kiba said, much to Hinata's dismay. "He'll wake up eventually. Then he'll be just as loud as ever."

Hinata knelt by the pitiful figure of Naruto, which lay on the ground without a sound, obviously unconscious. "G-Gomen ne, N-Naruto-kun," she mumbled. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a jar of salve. "H-Here. I hope you can f-find it when you w-wake up…"

"Hinata, just leave him," Kiba said. "Who cares about that loudmouth?"

"O-Okay," she said, though reluctantly.

"I think it's about dinnertime," Shino said, looking at the sky. "Do you guys want to go get something to eat?"

"That sounds good," Kiba said good-naturedly, the bet erased from his mind by the exhilaration of the chase. "But what about the house?"

"The dragonflies finished it when we left," Shino said.

"T-thank goodness," Hinata said.

"What do you guys wanna eat?" Kiba asked, placing Akamaru back on his head. "My treat."

They walked away from Naruto's unconscious form, debating on where to go eat for dinner and chatting amicably. Hinata sighed in obvious relief—it was a good thing they both forgot about that ridiculous bet. But then again, as she thought about it further, Shino must've done it for deeper reasons than for a date with her.

She looked at the boy out of the corner of her eyes and smiled slightly. Yes, he was a complex guy.

---

"What. The. Hell. Is. This."

"We painted it, like you said," Kiba said languidly on the grass to his sensei, who looked positively appalled. It was the next day, and Kurenai was inspecting their work. However, she was far from happy at the results.

"THIS ISN'T PAINTING!" she exclaimed, pointing at the dried blobs of paint on the wall. "PAINTING INVOLVES USING BRUSHES! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU GUYS USE? YOUR HANDS?!"

"Actually," Shino said, "a horde dragonflies."

Kurenai could only stare.

"They enjoyed doing it," Shino shrugged.

"W-Well," Hinata said nervously. "We got a little s-sidetracked…"

"Okay, I can understand Kiba laziness. I can understand Akamaru's paw prints. Hell, I can even understand Shino's dragonfly-horde thing," Kurenai said. "But I expected _you_ to at least keep a harness on these boys, Hinata!"

"G-Gomen…" Hinata said meekly.

"Hey, don't pick on Hinata," Kiba said. "It's not her fault."

"She fell from a ladder. She's probably suffering from trauma," Shino said bluntly.

Kurenai stared at the three of them, a bit astonished. Before this mission, they could barely talk to each other, let alone _about_ each other. She marveled at the quick bond. She let out a sigh, but she smiled.

"Well," she said. "I'm glad that you guys are getting along better, nonetheless."

The three looked at one another appraisingly.

"But promise me this," Kurenai said, looking stern. "Next time you guys are on a mission, no _bets_, no _goads_, and NO picking on the weak!"

Kiba snickered.

"And finally, there is to be _no_ dating Hinata!"

Kiba stared at his sensei incredulously. "What…?"

"No inter-team relationships! It'll ruin the teamwork!" Kurenai said, shaking a finger.

"But! I never—"

"Kiba," Kurenai interrupted. "Don't even _think_ about it."

"HEY! BUT SHINO TOO—"

"I know it's that time of life for you guys," Kurenai said solemnly, with a surprisingly straight face. "But really, you need to learn how to control your urges."

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, YOU OLD HAG?!"

Hinata blushed furiously as the two argued heatedly while Shino stood in the back, not participating at all.

At least, she thought nervously, they trusted each other a lot more now. She smiled slightly.

"TELL HER, HINATA! TELL HER THE TRUTH!"

---

**Coming up**...

**11: Yakisoba**  
_"You abandoned your mission?" Asuma said incredulously. "Have I taught you guys nothing?!" _

---


	11. Yakisoba

**11: Yakisoba**

"I thought I told you guys to weed this garden and weed it good!" Asuma cried as he stared in disbelief at the destruction of the yard. Dead leaves had been crumpled and were scattered all throughout the grassy wilderness that was the woman's backyard. Upturned roots had been discarded randomly—it looked as if a windstorm had blown through there.

"Hey, news alert," Asuma said, "there's been a new invention. It's called the _trash bag_."

"Okay, so we failed our first mission," Ino admitted, irritated with Asuma's reaction. "Now you have solid proof that your team sucks for your jounin rivals."

"That's not the point!" Asuma exclaimed. "You can't just go around failing missions like this! It reflects the capabilities of the whole team, your ability to function together, your effectiveness—"

Shikamaru gave a loud and very pointed yawn.

"Can we eat _now_?" Chouji grumbled. "I haven't had anything to eat for the _whole_ day."

"What are you talking about, you fatass?" Ino snapped. "You ate at least ten bags of chips today while we were working! Not to mention the ones that you ate while we were chasing after Sakura—"

"What," Asuma said.

Ino gave a nervous high laugh. "Weeell," she began. "We got a few visitors today…"

"You abandoned your mission?" Asuma said incredulously. "Have I taught you guys _nothing_?!"

"Yeah," Shikamaru said promptly. Asuma shot him a glare.

"That's it," he said, digging for a cigarette and lighter in his pockets to ease his frustration. "Tomorrow, you guys are going to the worst workout of your LIVES. And if you don't do it, you're going to have another one the _next_ day, and the day after that!"

"Sure," Shikamaru said. "You're going to supervise us like you supposedly supervised us today, right?"

"AND I WON'T STOP UNTIL YOU GUYS FINALLY REALIZE WHAT THE TRUE MEANING OF BEING A NINJA IS!" he bellowed until he turned red in the face.

"Yeah, yeah, okay, we got it, sensei," Ino said wearily, waving her hand. "But we're tired; can we go now?"

"You're not going until you clean this mess up!" Asuma exclaimed, tobacco spittle dribbling down his mouth.

"Hey, we already told that grandma what happened," Shikamaru said. "She threw lots of stuff at us."

"Including pots," Chouji added.

"Yeah, so there's no point in us finishing," Shikamaru said. "I'm leaving."

Asuma began to groan as he watched his team crumble before him. "No, no one is leaving. We're going _together_."

"What?!" Ino cried. "It's dark already! I want to go home!"

"No, you're coming with me to eat some yakisoba like I promised," Asuma said firmly. Ino's eyes bulged. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

Chouji, however, looked elated. "REALLY? We can go eat now?!"

"Damn right," Asuma grunted. "If you guys are gonna suck, you might as well learn to suck together as a team."

"Your logic is pretty confusing," Shikamaru said dully.

"C'mon," Asuma said, completely ignoring what Shikamaru said. He grabbed Ino and Chouji and jerked his head for Shikamaru to follow. "We're going to learn what it's like to be a _real_ team."

"YAY! FOOD!" Chouji cried.

---

**The End**

---


End file.
